Charles City

Charles City County, Virginia Genealogy, Wills, Estates, Marriages

Charles City County was named after the son of King James who later became King Charles I of England. It was one of four boroughs created by the Virginia Company in 1619. Westover Plantation was built about 1730 by William Byrd II, founder of Richmond and Petersburg, and features English boxwoods and colonial gardens; open to the public. Other plantations located in this county go along the James River, viz: Shirley Plantation, Berkeley Plantation, Westover Plantation, Sherwood Forest Plantation, and Greenway Plantation. Charles City is the county seat. The Carter wills of Shirley Plantation and Ladd wills are available on this website as well as many other famous Virginians who resided in this county. Anyone searching for their ancestors in Charles City County will no doubt run across the famous families who built the wealthy plantations and generated the local economy.
Marriages
  • Marriages to 1699
Miscellaneous Wills
  • Byrd, William, LWT (1700)
  • Byrd, William, LWT (1774)
  • Clay, John, LWT (transcript)
  • England, Francis, LWT (transcript)
  • Gregory, John, Jr., LWT (transcript)
  • Harrison, Benjamin, LWT (transcript)
  • Izard, Rebecca, LWT (transcript)
  • Munford, Robert, LWT (transcript)
  • Munford, William, LWT (transcript)
  • Rogers, John, LWT, transcript <lilstith, john,=”” lwt=”” (transcript)=”” <li=””>Tyler, John, LWT (transcript</lilstith,>
Digital Images of Wills and Estates 1655 to 1656
Digital Images of Wills and Estates 1689 to 1690
Digital Images of Wills and Estates 1724 to 1731
Digital Images of Wills and Estates 1766 tp 1774

(names of testators of above records not provided due to lack of space)

Digital Images of Wills 1789 to 1808

Names: Testators: Anderson, David Austin, William Ballard, Thomas Ballard, William Bartow, James Bates, James Beeck, Benjamin Benford, John Benge, James Berkley, Benjamin Binns, Mary Blanks, Elizabeth Blanks, James Blanks, John Bradley, Dancy Bradley, James Bradley, Joseph Brown, Abraham Brown, Sarah Bullifont, James Burton, Elizabeth Burton, William Carter, Charles of Shirley Plantation Carter, Mildred Carter, Robert Cary, Robert Charles, Lydia Charles, Phillip Charles, Willis Sr. Christian, Gideon Christian, William Clarke, Sarah Cocke, Jane Crew, Benjamin Crew, Benjamin (2) Crew, John Drake, Robert Drinkard, William Durfey, Francis Durfey, Samuel Duke, Henry Edmondson, Elizabeth Edmondson, Margaret Edward, William Finch, Ann Finch, Edward Finch, Elizabeth Folkes, William Fry, Robert Gill, Ingraham Gilliam, Ann Graves, William Griffith, Thomas Hardyman, Littlebury Harris, Frances or Francis Harris, James Harrison, Benjamin Jr. Harrison, James Harwood, William Hogg, Jessey Hurt, James Irby, Hardyman Irby, John Johnson, Jacob Knibb, John Lacy, Henry Ladd, Amos Ladd, Anna Ladd,James Ladd, William Lyon, Daniel Major, Martha Manable, Edward McBrown, Allen Merry, David Minge, Ann Shields Mountcastle, Joseph Munford, Robert Murrell, Thomas New, Richard Oley, William Parrish, Elizabeth Pavely, John Perry, Littleberry Phillips, Elizabeth Quick, Henry Randolph, William Sr. Roach, James Russell, Edward Southall, Henry Southall, James Spraggins, Elizabeth Spraggins, Thomas Stagg, Thomas Sr. Vaughan, William Shields Walker, Rebecca Walker, Richardson Wilkinson, David Willcox, Hannah Williams, Brazure Williamson, Frances Willis, Eady
Taylor Family History
Digital Images of Wills 1808 to 1824

Names: Testators: Adams, Joh ;Apperson, Martha ;Ballard, John; Barrow, Philip; Bates, James Sr.;Blanks, Thomas; Bradley, Benjamin; Bradley, John ;Bradley, Marston; Bradley, Thomas; Bradley, William; Brewer, Eleanor ;Brown, Dixon;Byrd, Ann Willing ;Byrd, Mary; Carter, Anne ;Cary, David ;Christian, John; Christian, Susanna; Christian, William ;Cole, Major ;Cole, Tally ;Coupland, Ann; Cowles, Nathaniel; Crew, Jacob ;Crew, John Sr.;Demville, Elizabeth; Dixon, Ann;Dixon, Anthony Tucker; Edloe, Ann ;Egmon, Cornelius; Egmon, Frances ;Emery, Mary ;Evans, Robert; Ferrel, Caleb ;Filbales, John; Finch, Richmond; Folkes, Catherine; Fry, Elizabeth ;Gannaway, Thomas; Gill, Thomas;Gill, illiam ;Gilliam, Jeffery; Glidewell, Drury; Gregory, Elley;Griffith, Amy ;Griffith, William; Hadin, Lucretia ;Hamblett, George; Hamblett, Thomas; Harrison, Braxton; Harrison, Collier ;Harwood, Elizabeth; Howell, William ;Hughes, Jeremiah; Irby, Francis Irby, Littleberry; Ireland, John; Kirby, Sarah ;Ladd, James D.; Ladd, Jesse ;Ladd, John ;Ladd, Joseph; Lightfoot, Philip I.; Lightfoot, William ;Maddox, Michael ;Major, Edward; Major, John ;Mannin, John; Miles, Richard; Minge, George William Hunt; Moody, Matthew ;Mountcastle, Elizabeth; Murrell, William M. ; Nance, William ;Nelson, William ;New, Jess ;New, ally ;Philbales, Mary; Raglin, Richard ;Roper, David ;Ross, Ann ;Royall, John; Royall, William ; Snipes, John ;Southall, Ann ;Southall, Philip; Southall, William;Towler, Luke ;Trappell, Martha; Tyler, John ;Vaughan, Henry; Vaughan, James;Vaughan, Sarah ;Warden, Joseph ;Whitt, Isham ;Wilkinson, Thomas; Wills, John ;Winston, Susanna

Indexes to Probate Records
  • Wills and Deeds 1655 to 1656
  • Inventories and Guardian Accounts 1789 to 1808
  • Wills and Inventories 1808 to 1824
Miscellaneous
  • Orders 1650; 1672-3; 1677-9; 1680; 1685; 1687-95
  • 1667 Land Grants
  • 1704 Quit Rent Rolls
Traced genealogies and family histories of Charles City County are available to Members !
BatteDunnJones

Indian Fields

This place in Charles City County known as” Indian fields” was, as its name suggests, an open space formerly cultivated by red men. In 1763, it was owned by Francis Hardiman who, several years later, bequeathed it to his son, John Hardiman. The field consisted of 600 acres. Francis Hardiman was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Hardiman who died in the colony ca 1741.

Burdensome Taxes Fixed on Colonists

If you resided in the Virginia colony in the 17th century, you were not exempted from the taxation of the English lords. Here is but one burdensome tax. The remuneration of each person conveying the tobacco of others in his sloop or shallow to Jamestown was fixed at ten pounds (per thousand), and the owner of the storehouse in which it was deposited was to receive six pounds of the same proportion. After the statute became law, however, colonists found a way around it. The planter rolled his tobacco on board the merchantman at his wharf, or transported it in a sloop of his own to a point where the vessel was lying. Since all of the work was provided by his own men, no expense was incurred. If such a tax were imposed during low prices for tobacco, it would have been intolerable.